Preventing Spyware and Adware
From Taking Over Your PC

Malicious spyware programs have emerged as one of the greatest threats for computer users today. These programs usually install stealthily on your computer and start tracking your computer and Internet activity. They steal your personal and confidential information, such as credit card numbers and other important documents and trade it with external sources, who may use it for other malicious purposes, such as delivering undesired and troublesome advertisements to your desktop and even hack your system to damage your files and steal your confidential documents and files.

Discussed here are five important tasks that you can perform to prevent spyware and adware programs from taking over your PC.

Regularly Update your Windows Operating System

Although all Windows operating systems undergo thorough testing before they are released for commercial use in the market, there are several bugs and security lapses that go undetected. This usually happens because an operating system is a complex software and it is just not humanly possible to make a perfect, bug free software. However, even after the product is officially introduced in the market, Microsoft continues to release regular security updates and security packs to patch up any vulnerabilities detected in their product after the product has been launched. Nowadays, most of the spyware and adware programs are built around these security vulnerabilities. Therefore, to prevent your Windows system from spyware and adware attacks, you must keep it up-to-date with the latest releases. You can easily do this, by visiting the Windows Update website and then downloading and installing the required updates.

You can also turn on the Windows Automatic Update feature on your Windows XP system to enable your computer to automatically detect and install required updates on your computer. To enable the Automatic Update feature, run the sysdm.cpl command and then on the Automatic Updates tab, select the Automatic option.

Enable Firewall Protection

Firewall is an effective way to prevent spyware and adware intrusions. Firewalls are developed to work as barriers to prevent malicious software programs from getting downloaded to your computer without your knowledge. These programs monitor all traffic that goes in and out of your computer, and blocks undesirable data from entering your computer. Your Windows XP computer comes equipped with the Windows Firewall that you can turn on by selecting the Security Center option included in the Control Panel.

Be Vigilant About Data You Download

Vigilance is very important to prevent spyware and adware infections. You must be very careful about the content you download on your system. There are several software programs, especially freeware software programs that are notorious for coming packaged with malicious spyware and adware programs.  Some of the online content that is known to carry malicious software are: free music, free games, free screen savers, and even smiley face packages. These free programs and files usually generate revenue by displaying unwanted pop-up ads on your desktop and hijacking or redirecting your Internet Explorer to un-requested affiliate Web sites.

One tip that you can follow is to NEVER click the OK or Agree button on popup messages, as doing this may trick you into agreeing to download software that you don’t need on your system. If such a pop-up is displayed, you must ALWAYS select X that is located at the top right corner of the popup box.

Install Antispyware Software

Anti-spyware programs play a major role in preventing and removing spyware and adware programs from your system. These tools are designed to look in every nook and corner of your system to scan for malware and weed out all spyware information to help you ensure complete spyware removal. You must also remember to enable the real-time protection feature of the tool and keep it updated with the latest definitions to ensure that your system is safe from the latest spyware and adware at all times.  

Run Regular Registry Scan

Spyware programs add several entries in the system registry. Some of these are embedded registry keys that are difficult to remove and it is these entries that play an important role in enabling these programs to reinstall even after you remove them. In order to get rid of these malicious entries, you need to use an advanced registry cleaner tool. Using this tool, you can perform a thorough and deep scan of the registry to weed out all malicious spyware entries existing deep within the registry and ensure complete removal of spyware and adware programs.